Crookes vs. Newton libel case of importance for bloggers and academics

My good friend Christopher Parsons alerted me towards a case that is to be heard on December 7th on linking and libel. Please see below text of Chris’ email:

I wanted to alert you to an incredibly important case that is scheduled to be heard Dec 7 in front of the Supreme Court. Crookes v. Newton revolves around whether it’s libellous to simply link to another website. We link/footnote to other sources in our own writings all the time – news articles, other books, journal articles, etc – and the freedom to do so is in the crosshairs. This case is *not* about what you write around the footnote; Crookes isn’t accusing Newton of writing libel material himself but just linking to what Crookes perceives as libellous speech. Given how commonly academics refer to facts that they may subsequent disagree with or dispute, often facts that could be seen by some parties as libellous, this is an incredibly important case for academic freedom and freedom of speech in Canada more generally.

Link to interview about case: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2010/12/full-interview-can-a-hyperlink-be-libellous/

I am, quite obviously, concerned for the outcome of this case. I’ll be following the case closely.

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